More Than Two-Thirds of Surveyed U.S. Clinicians Plan to Prescribe Incivek and Victrelis to Patients with Treatment-Naive Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1

More Than Two-Thirds of Surveyed U.S. Clinicians Plan to Prescribe Incivek and Victrelis to Patients with Treatment-Naive Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1

Source:biowire

Decision Resources, one of the world’s leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that more than two-thirds of surveyed U.S. clinicians plan to prescribe Vertex/Johnson & Johnson/Mitsubishi Tanabe’s Incivek and Merck/Roche’s Victrelis to patients with treatment-naive hepatitis C virus genotype 1 (HCV1), and half of surveyed physicians indicate they will add Incivek or Victrelis to an HCV1 patient’s existing pegylated-interferon(peg-IFN)/ribavirin regimen. In May 2011, Incivek and Victrelis were approved as treatments for hepatitis C virus by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The new U.S. Physician & Payer Forum report entitled Hepatitis C Virus: How Will The Launch of Novel Antivirals Influence U.S. Physician and Payer Attitudes Towards Treatment and Reimbursement? also finds that, among the surveyed clinicians who expect to prescribe Incivek to more HCV1 treatment-naive patients than Victrelis, 64 percent cite the high sustained virologic response (SVR) rate of Incivek-based regimens as the most important factor in their prescribing decisions. Similarly, the largest proportions of managed care organizations’ (MCO) pharmacy directors who expect to add Incivek to their formularies rank SVR in nonresponders and in treatment-naive patients as the most important factors driving the inclusion of Incivek in their formularies.

“Surveyed physicians estimate that an Incivek-based regimen will be used to treat more than half of all HCV1 patients and will be used in 44 percent of HCV2/3 nonresponders,” said Decision Resources Analyst LaTese Briggs, Ph.D. “Additionally, only 11 percent of surveyed clinicians expect to prescribe Victrelis over Incivek—of this small minority, 45 percent cite the possibility of a shorter treatment duration in HCV1 nonresponders along with acceptable SVR rates as the most influential factors in their decision to prescribe Victrelis over Incivek.”

The report also finds that while clinicians plan to use Incivek in more than half of HCV1 treatment-naive patients, less than half of surveyed MCOs plan to reimburse Incivek-based therapy in this subpopulation. Among surveyed pharmacy directors who expect to cover Incivek, only 47 percent plan to reimburse this agent for HCV1 treatment-naive patients. According to 68 percent of surveyed MCOs, Incivek will more likely be reimbursed for treatment of HCV1 nonresponders. Similar to Incivek, more than three-quarters of surveyed MCOs who expect to cover Victrelis, plan to reimburse it for HCV1 nonresponders, but only 39 percent expect to provide reimbursement for Victrelis in HCV1 treatment-naive patients.

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